MNGT470  Leadership, Communication, and Teams in the Virtual World

Course Description in Catalog

This course will help students build skills for working successfully in the virtual world. The course will focus on issues and skill development impacting leadership, communication, interaction, and teamwork in the virtual world. The emphasis will be on the effective practice of these skills. Most work will be conducted online, but the class will meet in person from time to time to debrief and discuss the issues, challenges, and rewards of working in a virtual world.

This course is designed to meet the UNL ACE 6 designated criteria: Use knowledge, theories, or methods and historical perspectives appropriate to the social sciences to understand and evaluate human behavior.

Course Prerequisite: Junior or Senior standing.

You will see more of my thoughts on the course on the Course Overview page.

Course Objectives

Everything in this course is designed to give you the opportunity to learn about and function effectively in the virtual world. The challenges of leadership, teamwork, communication, and interaction are as true and relevant in the virtual world as they are in the physical world. You will find that there are just different ways that these skills are expressed online.

The overall goal of this course is to prepare you to be effective leaders and effective teammates in the virtual world. Specifically, our objectives include:

• Recognizing strengths and weaknesses as leaders
• Recognizing situations where our strengths will work in both the physical and virtual worlds
• Assessing different forms of effective communication for both the physical and virtual worlds
• Utilizing appropriate technologies to support online communication and interaction
• Experiencing the unique challenges and benefits of working on a virtual team
• Developing thinking and behavioral skills that will help you be effective team members in both the physical and virtual worlds

You will be required to work on projects as part of a virtual team. You will be required to assess your own leadership skills. You will be required to use technology effectively to communicate and get work done online.

Course Materials

Required Text: Northouse, P.G. (2018). Introduction to Leadership: Concepts and Practice (4^th Ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE. + Introduction to Leadership eBook, 4^th Ed.

NOTE: You will purchase the book for this course online through our course site. We will be using a technology tool called Perusall, which will help you to learn the material better and get more out of your learning. The first time you access the book through the assignment link in Canvas, you will be prompted to purchase the book. The fee to purchase lifetime access to the book will be $54.00, which includes access to all the videos and assessments we will use during the course. This is a required component of the course.

In addition, we will use a simulation from Capsim. You can access the simulation at this link: https://ww5.capsim.com/RegistrationApp/YourAccount/X110540. There will be a charge of $29.99 which you can pay with your credit card at the time. This is a required component of the course. 

Course Activities

The activities in this course will include team and individual assignments. You will use a variety of technologies to accomplish these activities, including but not limited to Zoom, Medium, Adobe Spark, Slack, Wix, Wordpress, Basecamp, Trello, virtual reality, 360 video, telepresence robots, etc. These technologies will require you to develop an understanding of how to use them, but the lasting impact that they will have on your marketability and skillset will be far-reaching. If you create quality work for your course assignments, you can highlight the skills you develop in your resume and in interviews for jobs and internships.

For the most part, assignments are described specifically within the course assignment that is relevant. However, here are some general guidelines for activities that include multiple parts.

Experiential Learning Blog

In order to document your learning by experience in this course, you will individually create four Medium posts. Each of your blog posts will be published to your team’s Medium series with you as the individual author. You will submit the URL of your blog post to the assignment in Canvas. You should also read your team members’ posts and make highlights and comments. You will be evaluated based on meeting the specifications for each post and meeting the deadlines for the posts.

Chapter Annotations

Research shows that by annotating thoughtfully, you'll learn more and get better grades. To help you master the content in the readings faster, understand the material better, and get more out of the readings, you will be collaboratively annotating the textbook with others in the class. Effective, on time collaborative annotations will show that you are deeply engaging in points in the readings, stimulating discussion with your peers, offering informative questions or comments, and helping others by addressing their questions or confusions. You can earn up to 30 points for this activity.

Knowledge Checks

In order to keep everyone accountable for the required reading as well as to encourage you to keep on track in the course, there will be quizzes, called Knowledge Checks. The first will be on the syllabus, the rest will be aligned with the textbook chapter reading assignments. There are a total of 8 (eight) knowledge checks, including the syllabus check. Your top 6 (six) scores (not counting the syllabus check) will be kept in the gradebook, allowing you to drop your lowest knowledge check score. There will be no make up Knowledge Checks allowed.

 Participation and Attendance

During the course, you will have specific dates and times when you need to attend class in person. You will be evaluated based on your presence in the room and your participation in the activities that occur during those sessions. In addition, you will participate in online activities, including using a variety of technologies. You will be evaluated based on your presence online and interaction with others.

Schedule

See this document for the class schedule.

Grading Policies

Final grades will be determined by your performance as a team member and as an individual. The table below shows the value of various assignment requirements.

Grade Scheme

The following grading standards will be used in this class:

How to Succeed in This Course

The most important thing that you can do to succeed in this course is to keep a steady pace. Just because some of the work in this course is completed online, it does not mean that it is wise to postpone your efforts to the last minute before a due date. You should plan ahead and set aside time regularly to "go to class" and complete any online materials for the week. Read the text, watch the videos, and complete the assignments. Take notes as you go throughout the materials, and think about how the concepts apply to what you know from work, the news, your peers, and other people you know. Ask questions using the Canvas Inbox if you have them. I will respond to questions within at least 24 hours (usually more quickly). Throughout the course, I encourage you to provide feedback, as we will use this input to make changes and improve the course over time.